New laws passed by state parliament this week allow major retail stores throughout the Perth metropolitan area to trade until 9pm on weeknights, and this is likely to be followed by a push for Sunday trading if the Barnett government is re-elected.
New laws passed by state parliament this week allow major retail stores throughout the Perth metropolitan area to trade until 9pm on weeknights, and this is likely to be followed by a push for Sunday trading if the Barnett government is re-elected.
The new legislation is in line with Premier Colin Barnett’s reform agenda which he outlined in late June.
“Weeknight trading was our objective for this term of government, and we’ve also expanded and extended the numbers of tourism precincts, that’s a pretty good result for this term.”
“Weeknight trading was our objective for this term, and we’ve also expanded and extended the number of tourism precincts, that’s a pretty good result for this term,” Mr Barnett said.
“Going into a second term of government, if we’re successful, we would look at Sunday trading.”
He then said that it was not his intention to pursue Sunday trading in the current term, but highlighted his aim of having the weekday trading legislation in place well before Christmas, which appears to have been delivered.
“One step at a time is what I’ve been saying consistently for years on this issue,” Mr Barnett said.
Commerce Minister Bill Marmion said this week’s new legislation would provide greater vibrancy, convenience and choice for the people of Perth as retailers could now choose to stay open until 9pm on any weeknight.
Midland and Armadale will also become ‘special trading precincts’ (formerly labeled tourism precincts), joining existing precincts at Joondalup, Fremantle and Perth, which have extended trading, including Sundays.
The state government will also release a discussion paper in coming weeks focused on defining ‘bulky goods’ that are currently allowed to be sold on a Sunday.
However, this discussion paper and the new weekday trading laws will do little to dampen the criticism.
At a business breakfast last week, Coles managing director Ian McLeod said retail trading hours in WA were a farce while questioning the need for any regulation that includes anomalies that put WA a decade behind the eastern states.
This was a sentiment shared by Woolworths, which suggested it should be up to the consumer when they want to shop, emphasising that Sunday trading at its Joondalup and Subiaco stores in recent weeks had been “going great guns”.
Mr McLeod described scenarios where Sunday trading was currently permitted in WA including “smaller” supermarkets with less than 13 employees, supermarkets where the owner had less than three stores, service stations and DIY shops, and maybe “bulky goods”.
“I think it's very confusing,” Mr McLeod said.
“It seems that any supermarket that doesn't begin with a ‘C’ or a ‘W’ can open.”
Mr McLeod’s boss, Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder, said the current regulations were ridiculous, highlighted by Bunnings stores in WA not being able to sell the same items as their eastern states counterparts.
Specifically, Bunnings stores in WA can sell outdoor mats on a Sunday but not indoor mats.
“What I would say about the retail trading environment in Western Australia is that it's a complete joke that consumers don't have a choice when they might want to shop,” Mr Goyder said.
“I think you have to sit back and say 'what the heck is going on here and what's it doing to the competitiveness of Perth as a place to attract people to come and live and work here?’.”
Myer boss Bernie Brookes criticised the Premier’s failure to reform trading regulation at a recent WA business breakfast, stating it's very hard to invest in a state where you can't trade on a Sunday.
“It's a bit like saying that in an age of high-definition TVs we're going to go back to drive-ins,” he said.
However, WA Independent Grocers Association president John Cummings, who owns the Leederville and Duncraig IGA stores, suggested big retailers only wanted to extend trading hours to take market share.
“Richard Goyder’s take home pay is something like $170,000 a week, $8.5 million a year,” he said.
“Some of the stores he’s referring to as having an uneven advantage don’t turnover that per week.”
